Heaven
Heaven, also called The Attic, The Penthouse, Paradise, or even Upstairs, is an ageless, ethereal, holy realm created by God, intended to be the home-realm of both himself and his children, as well as a few selected Deities. It serves as a dwelling place and a base of operations for angels and is a final resting place of worthy human souls. Angels are protector of the righteous souls and are responsible of Heaven's maintenance. Angels are bound to Heaven and they serve as a power source for Heaven while in it. Without their presence, Heaven crumbles and unleashes every soul it contains upon Earth. Naomi said that Heaven's temporarily closed. Overview In its history, Heaven has had two civil wars. The first was when Lucifer became jealous and angry of the creation of mankind and, subsequently, led a rebellion against God. The second was between Castiel and Raphael after the aversion of the Apocalypse. Raphael had wanted to restart it by freeing Michael and Lucifer while Castiel fought to prevent it. God resided in Heaven with his angels until his departure sometime in the distant past. In God's absence, the archangel Michael led the angelic Host and directed the affairs of Heaven. Raphael was also an authority. The appearance of angels in Heaven is not necessarily human, though they usually stay in their vessel, as it isn't always easy to find a suitable vessel for angels. For example, Zachariah says that in Heaven, he has six wings and four faces. Angels draw some of their powers - demonic exorcism, healing, time travel, and resurrection - from Heaven. Those who fall and are "cut-off" from Heaven are weakened and are not allowed to return on their own except for higher angels. It is still possible for the banished to communicate with the ones in Heaven. Anna can hear other angels speaking, even without her grace. Castiel is able to communicate with Sam and Alexander Carrington through a link to electronic equipment - such as a radio or TV - in their memories. Heaven also serves as a destination for deserving human souls after death. They occupy the happy memories they experienced on Earth, reliving them in their personal Heavens. It is unknown how a human soul is allowed salvation in Heaven. Joshua suggests that it is on a case-by-case basis and can be God's decision; this is the case with Sam and Alexander. Raphael says that if a person is devout enough, it can trump all sins (which is why the disgraced Enron executive Ken Lay got into Heaven). Although supernatural in nature, it could be understood with sufficient scientific knowledge and/or technology, as demonstrated by Ash. Appearance Original The Heaven that God originally created was an endless realm made up of each human's personal paradise. All of these different Heavens were combined into one realm, yet were separated from one another, so that each human would have their own individual domain. Angels are able to travel to any person's Heaven they choose, and can even alter it at will. There are also different sigils that humans can use which allow them to travel to the Heaven of another person. In each individualized Heaven, there is a road, or a representation of a road, which will lead them to the Garden (The center of Heaven). Remodeled After the civil war ended, and Heaven was rendered leaderless (due to the death of Raphael, and later Castiel) the Heavenly Host broke up into factions, and recreated the appearance of Heaven. Instead of an endless realm of individualized Heavens, the angels changed Heaven into a massive building like structure, which contained hallways consisting of doors for each person's Heaven. The angels are able to open any of these doors, allowing them to enter any Heaven they choose. There is also a hidden switch or compartment hidden in each Heaven, which, if pulled, will open that Heaven's door, allowing the souls to roam free in the general Heaven, but an alarm will activate when that happens, as a soul is not allowed to be out his/her heaven. It seems each heaven is organized by the last name of the soul they belong. For example, there is a hallway only to every Robert "Bobby" Singer, including Bobby. Foundation and History Heaven is conceived as above Earth. It is understood by angels, humans, and demons, that Heaven is up. When spirits let go of what ever is holding them in the veil, they go "up" into Heaven. Conception and Early History God created Heaven as a realm to house himself and his children. This realm also served as a final resting place of souls deemed worthy. The center of Heaven is called The Garden (Zachariah refers to it as "Mission Control"), and, like the rest of the realms, each person sees it how they want to. The Garden can be reached by the Axis Mundi, which is often seen as a river or a road, depending on the person. Throughout history, angels interfered on Earth under certain circumstances, even unleashing Heaven's power on Earth which caused a "nuke" and turned Lot's wife into salt. In Egypt, they murdered every first born infant whose door wasn't splashed with lamb's blood. The Apocalypse According to Joshua, God is walking the Earth and is not interested in helping the Carringtons stop the Apocalypse. Since God's abandonment of Heaven, Michael has taken command as his right as "Viceroy of Heaven" with some assistance from his younger brother, Raphael. Civil War and Declaration of the New God After Michael was trapped in Lucifer's Cage, Raphael took over, leading it like a dictatorship. When he announced his plans to free Michael and Lucifer and restart the Apocalypse, Castiel opposed him. This resulted in a civil war between Raphael's forces and Castiel's followers. The war ended when Castiel absorbed all the souls of Purgatory and destroyed Raphael and his followers. He then declared himself God and took control of Heaven. Castiel's first act was to eradicate all those angels who opposed him, thus effectively reducing Heaven's angelic population. However, he then disappeared and was presumed dead, and Heaven once again fell into disarray. In the aftermath of Castiel's disappearance, Hester, who was once part of Castiel's garrison, took command of the remaining Angels from Castiel's former garrison. She was assisted by Inias, also an angel from Castiel's garrison. Factionalized Heaven It's revealed by Metatron that Heaven is currently at war, with multiple factions of angels fighting for supremacy, as without the Archangels and following Castiel's decimation of Raphael's followers there is no clear leader. Naomi is simply the leader of one such factions. Hence, Metatron initiates the plan to close Heaven off until things cool down and also so that the in-fighting doesn't spill onto Earth. However, Naomi later reveals to Castiel, and Metatron later confirms, that his intent was not to seal Heaven, but to cast all angels out of it. Taking the ingredients Castiel had acquired (the nephilim's death and the cupid arrow) and Castiel's grace, Metatron casts a spell that causes all angels to be expelled from Heaven thus breaking their wings. Fall of the Angels Due to Metatron's spell, Heaven has been cleared by all angels except for the scribe. The spell also cleared out Heaven's prisons and dungeons, unleashing angels that were being held prisoners, such as Gadreel and Abner. The spell caused all of the angels to fall from Heaven. As a result of the it, angels lost their wings and most of their power, permanently. Despite this, they remained to be severely factionalized and warred among each other. Most of the fallen angels blame Metatron and Castiel for their fall. Because of this, Castiel became a target of the anger and vengeance of several fallen angels. Afterwards, Metatron closed the gates of Heaven and even reapers lost their ability to travel there, causing every dead human soul not worthy of Hell, became stuck in the Veil, unable to go to Heaven. Category:Locations Category:Supernatural Category:Dimensions